Chapter 76 Before the ball even ended, she…
Before the ball was over, she told William and Anne that she had to return to London the next day.
“Mary, what’s gotten into you so much trouble?” Anne asked, puzzled. “We’ve only been in Devon for three weeks, and look how happily Susan and that young man are chatting.”
“I saw it, so I want to go back first. You and Susan stay here. Dear Anne, my friend is in trouble, and I have to go back.”
When Mary first learned that the person dancing and chatting with Susan was a younger relative of the old lady in the nearby Allenham compound, she thought it was Willoughby, but thankfully it wasn't.
William disagreed with Mary's idea; how could a lady travel such a long distance alone? Even with two male servants, he couldn't rest easy. What exactly did Richard's letter say that made Mary so anxious?
“It was Charlotte. She traveled to London alone by carriage, but since none of us were there, Richard had to put her in a hotel.”
In the same days that Charlotte was writing to Mary to express her worries, the wife of Mr. Miller, a friend of Mr. Brown and the owner of the textile mill, passed away.
Although this man already had a twelve-year-old son, nothing could stop him from wanting to enjoy family happiness. He decided to remarry, hoping to forget the pain of losing his wife. As for his remarriage partner, he would naturally choose a young and beautiful woman.
Mr. Miller and Mr. Brown were friends for many years; otherwise, he wouldn't have lent a helping hand when the Browns' business failed. At a public dance in July attended by both families, Mr. Miller invited Charlotte to dance and quickly fell in love with his friend's daughter.
Charlotte's brother David was delighted with this, as Mr. Miller was the wealthiest of the other men who were pursuing Charlotte, and his textile mill had brought the rich man an income of more than two thousand pounds a year in recent years.
Even if the Brown family hadn't gone bankrupt, Charlotte might not have been able to marry such a husband. After her sister married Mr. Miller, the most important thing would be taking care of the family. The small workshop that she had been running would naturally be handed over to her father and brother, and the Brown family would no longer have to worry about unemployment.
Everyone gets what they want, except for Charlotte; nobody cares about her wishes. How could she not be happy about something so perfect for everyone?
Charlotte sensed something was wrong after her parents kept taking her to Mr. Miller's parties. When Mr. Miller finally proposed, the other shoe dropped. Charlotte immediately refused; Mr. Miller was about the same age as her father, practically an old man in her eyes.
He was generous and cheerful in front of his friends, but Charlotte learned about his vulgar and violent side from the female workers. He used ruthless methods to exploit the factory's female workers, and David's transformation was influenced by this boss.
Even if she were penniless, let alone able to earn money herself, she wouldn't choose a husband like that. In Charlotte's presence, Mr. Miller showed no displeasure at the young lady's refusal.
But when she got home, poor Charlotte was scolded by her brother and disapproved by her father. Only Mrs. Brown understood her daughter's rejection of someone who was about her age.
To make matters worse, Mr. Brown soon made a mistake at work and was likely to be fired. Even Mrs. Brown was now hoping that her daughter would plead with Mr. Miller, and Charlotte seemed to have no way out.
At this moment, Charlotte remembered the suggestion in her good friend Mary's letter. After destroying all her past letters with Mary, she slipped out of the house. With the help of the factory workers, she hailed a carriage and, with the money she had saved over the past two years, embarked on her journey to London.
Mrs. Price was startled when Miss Brown appeared on Harry Street looking disheveled.
Charlotte was afraid that Mrs. Price would write to the Browns, so she didn't tell the lady the truth. It wasn't until Richard came to visit his mother that she found out the truth.
He advised Charlotte against continuing to live on Harley Street, as Mary had originally intended to invite Charlotte to visit London, but that was clearly no longer an option.
After Charlotte ran away from her family alone, her reputation was completely ruined, and Richard was afraid that Mr. Brown would come to town and accuse the Price family of kidnapping his daughter.
Considering Charlotte was Mary's friend, Richard arranged for her to stay at a hotel temporarily, but judging from the tone of his letter to Mary, he clearly advised against his sister meddling in other people's business.
Mary pulled William and Anne aside, explained the situation in a low voice, and concluded, "Dear William, I must help her. What if Mr. Brown comes to London and takes Charlotte away if I don't get back in time?"
"Would it be of any use for you to rush back alone? You might as well write a letter to persuade Richard to help cover up our whereabouts. As long as Mr. Brown can't find her, he can't just say we hid his daughter. As for Mother, I'll tell her not to tell anyone that she saw Miss Brown."
William told Mary not to panic. Miss Brown's departure was a fait accompli. If Richard really didn't want to cause trouble, he would have sent her back to Manchester long ago. Since he had helped her rent a hotel, he must have done a lot of cover-up.
With this incident, they had no choice but to end their vacation. William planned to bid farewell to Colonel Brandon and Sir John after the ball.
Because of this, Mary went back to her room alone to write a letter to Richard. Miss Price refused to dance all night and eventually skipped the ball altogether, much to the displeasure of the neighbors who were attending, who felt that the young lady was putting on airs.
Mrs. Jennings, however, spoke up this time: "Miss Price isn't like that. You didn't notice, but she hasn't looked well all evening. I think she's probably sick."
Hearing this, Colonel Brandon became even more worried. The day after the ball, at four o'clock in the afternoon, Colonel Brandon visited Rose Estate and learned that Mary had only been feeling unwell for a while and had now recovered. Only then was the Colonel relieved.
When he learned that the Price family was about to return to London, Mr. Hawthorne, who had also come to visit, voiced his thoughts: "Captain Price, are you leaving so soon? You haven't even had a chance to enjoy the scenery around here yet."
William said with a regretful look, "There's nothing we can do about it. We have things to take care of back in London. We'll come back here when we have time."
"Then I'll go back to the city with you. Anyway, I don't have anything to do in Allenham." Hawthorne thought that Willoughby would be coming over in a while and didn't want to run into him.
He initially came to visit his aunt Mrs. Smith every year as his mother instructed, of course, in order to become the old lady's heir.
Unfortunately, he wasn't as handsome as Willoughby, and his current profession wasn't well-regarded by the traditional-minded Mrs. Smith. In any case, his distant relative Willoughby won Mrs. Smith's favor and became her heir.
However, Mr. Hawthorne wasn't truly a pragmatic person. Although he hadn't become the heir, he felt it was still necessary to maintain the kinship ties of the previous generation, so he still visited Allenham once a year. It's just that he and Willoughby had some disagreements, and Willoughby always chose to come when Mr. Hawthorne wasn't there.
Mr. Hawthorne kept his word and went back to say goodbye to Mrs. Smith. The old lady, upon learning that he wanted to pursue a girl from a good family, gave him a few words of encouragement.
Colonel Brandon was somewhat envious of the proactive Mr. Hawthorne. After Miss Bassprice made those remarks, he was worried that Mrs. Jennings's loose tongue would continue to cause trouble for the young lady, and he felt embarrassed to return to London with the Price family.
On the way back, they traveled at a brisk pace. Mr. Hawthorne kept asking the ladies if they were able to keep up, especially Miss Susan Price, whose health he was most concerned about.
Besides sharing Susan's anxieties about Charlotte, Mary finally found time to inquire about her sister's suitor. After figuring out Mr. Hawthorne's relationship with Willoughby, and based on her distrust of Willoughby's character, she was willing to give Mr. Hawthorne a chance.
The Price family now knows that the man's deceased father was also a lawyer. Although his career was not successful and his reputation was not good, he still left his son an inheritance so that the man would not have to worry about not having a right to inherit Allenham House.
“Mr. Hawthorne, didn’t you ever consider studying law at the Solicitors’ Club in London? Although we don’t have any prejudice against solicitors, and you know one of our brothers is in business, if you had gone down the bar, you might have been able to win Mrs. Smith’s favor,” Mary asked tentatively.
Since Hawthorne left his son an inheritance, he should have made plans for his son's future. If his son had become a top lawyer, Mr. Hawthorne's status would be quite different from what he is now.
"If my father had lived a few more years, perhaps it would have been possible, but unfortunately he passed away too young. Every barrister needs support, and I didn't have that kind of connection. At that time, I couldn't use all the money; only two thousand pounds of the eight thousand pounds were available, which wasn't enough to study law at the law firm. I couldn't just sit around and live comfortably on my own; the interest income from the inheritance alone wouldn't be enough to make my family live comfortably in London."
"Besides, the reason I lost Mrs. Smith's inheritance was not just because of this. My mother and that lady were close cousins, and their relationship began to deteriorate after she married my father. Some of his behaviors during his lifetime displeased Mrs. Smith, and she wrote to my mother to dissuade her from accepting his proposal. My father and she have been at odds ever since."
Mr. Hawthorne continued, “Mrs. Smith and my mother slowly reconnected after my father’s death. Willoughby had a much better chance in this respect, as his elders had not offended Mrs. Smith. Mr. Willoughby was unaware of the situation and therefore misunderstood me. In fact, his inheritance was already settled and was almost impossible to change unless he committed a serious mistake that displeased Mrs. Smith.”
At this point, he glanced nervously at Susan, fearing that the young lady would look down on him because of his status. To his delight, the young lady didn't seem to mind at all, and continued to look at him with a smile.
Like Mary, Susan had witnessed her father, Lieutenant Price's, irresponsible behavior since childhood, and naturally did not want her future husband to be the kind of person who was content with mediocrity and waiting to squander money. Although Mr. Hawthorne was not of high rank and his annual income was only a little over seven hundred pounds, his sincerity touched her.
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